A compendious system of midwifery : chiefly designed to facilitate the inquiries of those who may be pursuing this branch of study, illustrated by occasional cases / by William P. Dewees.

  • Dewees, William P. (William Potts), 1768-1841.
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A compendious system of midwifery : chiefly designed to facilitate the inquiries of those who may be pursuing this branch of study, illustrated by occasional cases / by William P. Dewees. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    ty; the second obstructed; on the third impaired? will he not, in most instances where either of these conditions obtain, wait in vain for the all-sufficient exertions of nature? Experience, however necessary and important, is not alone sufficient: a correct foundation must be laid, by the study of first principles; and with even these, the progress must be slow; since variety in labour is so multiplied. It is only by a happy and well-balanced generalization, that the practitioner can arrive at principles; and it is but by judiciously acting upon these, that he can be extensively useful. I may safely appeal to the candour of almost any practitioner, whether he has not admit- ted to himself, that had he been better acquainted with princi- ples at a previous period of practice, he could have procured, in certain cases of labour, either a speedier termination of it, or a more fortunate issue—1 am sure he will answer in the affir- mative. Too much importance can easily be attached to experience alone; for though I consider it a sine qua non to the successful exercise of the profession, yet it becomes only decidedly useful in difficult cases, when it is based upon the fundamental prin- ciples of obstetrics. Without an acquaintance with these every practitioner must act empirically; and this to the too fre- quent destruction of human life. If he be ignorant of all that is essential to be known of the well-formed and diseased pelvis* or unacquainted with the various ways the head may pass through it, he will be totally incompetent to act, when there is any material deviation from the healthy economy of labour. On the one hand, he may rashly suppose, there is no alternative- but in the use of the crotchet, where a little address might have immediately relieved the patient by rectifying the error in pre- sentation; and on the other, he may negligently and reprehen- sibly, wait for the successful operation of nature, until the pa- tient expire. In making an estimate of the value of experience alone I must admit that many pursue the safer plan in submitting the case to nature; for I confess that, in many cases of desperate ap- pearances, she successfully overcomes the dangers that menace her; but this is only submitting to a choice of evils: while the well-instructed practitioner would triumph over them by his skill, and spare nature this hazardous conflict. That in many instances we should be only the silent observers of nature, is unhesitatingly acknowledged; but I must insist, and I am per-